12 Days of My Christmas Trees - Day 4

Traditional Tree

This is a 7 ft, 4 ft diameter (at bottom) tree. This tree holds many cherished ornaments... ornaments I made when I was a child, ornaments my children made, special gifts, and more.

12 Days of My Christmas Trees (& More) - Day 3

Ball Wreath
Gold and silver picks were inserted & tied into a grapevine wreath form.

Folger's Retro Christmas Commerical

12 Days of My Christmas Trees - Day 2

Red and White Tree
This is a 6-ft white tree.

12 Days of My Christmas Trees - Day 1

Crafting Tree
This is a 4-ft, pencil tree in the craft studio/office. Many ornaments are made from scrapbooking papers and embellishments.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 12

Found at Paragon; 2006.

Creating a Magical Family Christmas

Creating A Magical Family Christmas - Get more Creative Writing

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 11

Found at Bugis Junction Mall; made by Soo Kee Jewelry; 2006.
Statistics:
man hours - 12,966
weight - over 3,215 kilograms
lights - 456
crystal beads - 3,762
diamonds - 21,798
carats - 913
worth - $1,550,000

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 10

Found in front of Harbourfront Center; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 9

Found at the Bugis Junction Mall; 2006. Made from strips of foil.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 8

Found in the Cathay; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 7

Found at The National Museum; 2006. Its made from ginger root.

Creating a Designer Christmas Tree

For many families, the holiday season begins with the selection and decoration of a Christmas tree. Whether you choose a hefty pine or a dignified fir, the warm glow of a lighted Christmas tree is an enduring holiday symbol. Everything about your tree, from the ornaments that adorn the branches to the selection of tinsel, garland, and ribbon, speaks volumes about your family's personality and traditions. Lowe's is happy to provide this information as a service to you.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 6

Found at Straits Café in the Rendezvous Hotel; 2006. This photo goes to show that not all trees need to be big to be beautiful.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 5

Found in front of a Mercedes-Benz automobile dealership; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 4

Found at Clarke Quay; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 3

Found in front of Raffle City; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 2

In the lobby of the Great Eastern Centre; stands approx. 2.5 stories tall; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Trees - Day 1

Found in front of Vivocity, Singapore’s largest mall; 2006.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 12 - Gingerbread

To celebrate National Gingerbread Day, today's crafts and recipes are in honor of gingerbread. (Just click on the individual phrases/titles to access the sites.)


Gingerbread Recipes:

Molasses Gingerbread Cookies
Old-Fashioned Gingerbread
Gingerbread with Sour Cream
Chocolate Gingerbread
Christmas Gingerbread Recipes, includes Grandma's Gingerbread, Gingerbread Cookie Mix in a Jar, Biscotti, and more.


Gingerbread Crafts:

Sandpaper Gingerbread Man Ornament

Materials needed: sand paper, cinnamon stick, glue, misc. craft supplies

Instructions:
1. Cut out a gingerbread man shape. Trace the pattern onto the back of the sand paper.
2. Scrape the cinnamon stick over the sand paper to make it smell sweet.
3. Give your gingerbread man a face and other features using whatever you have on hand. You can use small candies, rick-rack, felt scraps, construction paper, white paint (to look like frosting), etc.

How to Make Handmade Gingerbread Man Soaps
Gingerbread Man Chains
Gingerbread Container House
Gingerbread Bean Bags
Kid's Gingerbread House
Gingerbread Sign
Gingerbread House
Home Sweet Gingerbread Home
Gingerbread House Card


Gingerbread House (Instructions, Ideas, and More)

Get step-by-step instructions for how to make easy candy-covered gingerbread houses, a classic holiday craft.

Gingerbread House
Mini Gingerbread House
Gingerbread Train
Building Gingerbread


Need to know more about gingerbread? Then head on over to these sites that are all gingerbread all the time.

Gingerbread.com
Gingerbread Heaven
Gingerbread Fun
Ultimate Gingerbread

Freebie of the Month - Printable Craft Projects

Make your own FREE Christmas cards, gift tags, and more using vintage Christmas photos.


Vintage Christmas Photos - Printable Craft Projects - Get more Creative Writing

Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial

Vintage Christmas Advertisements

Vintage Wreaths

Go to the Sweet Remembrance blog to order your own.

Wordless Wednesday #2

Blue Christmas

Tree is a 6 foot pencil tree in the master bedroom.

Sunday Scrappin' - 5/25/08

Ta Da's:
I decorated the Americana/Memorial Day/July 4th tree this week. The pictures of the tree are below.

To Do's:
Do research on what card on I want to make for the invitations for my annual Christmas Open House. (If you have suggestions for something easy, Christmas-y, and pretty let me know.)

To see other's creations and accomplishments, check out Sunday Scrappin' at http://sundayscrappin.blogspot.com/.

Wordless Wednesday (or Thursday)

Each week I will share photographs of my Christmas decorations, crafts, and more. Thanks for looking.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 11 - Santa

Santa is one of the most popular symbols of Christmas. Children everywhere wait in anticipation for Santa or one of his counterparts to deliver gifts and treats. This special gift giver takes on many forms and names throughout the world. You can make several Santa related crafts no matter where you live or how you celebrate.


Crafts


Santa Puppet

Materials needed:
Paper Lunch Bags
Crayons or Markers
Paper
Cotton Balls
Glue

Instructions:
1. Leave the bag flat, and draw eyes and a nose on the bottom of the paper bag. For the mouth, draw the top half on the bottom of the bag along the edge with the flap. Draw the bottom half of the mouth below the flap edge.
2. Cut Santa's hat out of red and white construction paper. Glue the hat onto the bottom of the paper bag just above the eyes.
3. For Santa's hair, beard, and mustache, glue on cotton balls.


Santa Key

We do not have a fireplace for Santa to come down the chimney, so we hang the Santa key outside the front door on Christmas eve. It is part our family tradition.

Materials needed:
Old skeleton key
Holiday ribbon

Instructions:
1. Print poem (below) and attach to key with ribbon.
2. Tie a bow using holiday ribbon around the top of the skeleton key. Make the loop in the ribbon big enough to hang the key over a door knob.

Poem:
We don't have a chimney for you to climb through,
But if you don't visit my our house I don't know what I'll do.
Some say you are magic and can use any old key
As long as we hang it out in a place you're sure to see.
So we're leaving this old key right outside our door
Saying our prayers, jumping in bed, and we won't worry anymore.

There are many different versions of this poem on the Internet or you can write your own version.

Advent Santa Beard
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/santaprojects/l/bladventsantaF.htm

Santa Pin
http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/blspsantafc.htm

Santa Claus Handprint
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/Xmas/mhand-santa.htm

Baby Food Jar Santa Claus Craft
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/msantajar.htm

Santa Light Bulb Craft
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/lightbulb-santa.shtml

Santa Broom
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/santa-broom.shtml

Paperback (or Reader's Digest) Santa
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/paperback-Santa.shtml

Santa Yarn Bug
http://www.makingfriends.com/bug/bug_santa.htm

Santa Lollipops
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/famf128santacrafts/famf128santacrafts2.html


Santa Ornaments


Popsicle Stick Santa
http://www.craftideas.info/html/craft_stick_santa_claus.html

Paper Roll Santa Ornament
http://www.kidssoup.com/Christmas/Crafts/Craft_SantaOrnament.html

Santa Ball Ornament
http://crafts.kaboose.com/santa-ornament.html

Santa Hat Ornament
http://crafts.kaboose.com/santa-ornament.html

Carved Santa Ornament
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_occasions_december/article/0,,HGTV_3270_4188318,00.html

Clothespin Santa Ornament
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/archives/crafting/6.shtml

Sunday Scrappin' - 5/18/08

I've been MIA from the Sunday Scrappin' meme for a few weeks. I took on a major organization overhaul in the basement and the crafting had to be put off for a while.

Ta Da's:
I don't have anything to report right now.

To Do's:
Decorate the Americana/Memorial Day/July 4th tree this week. This is one of my most favored trees to display in the house.